William Ross (orchestrator)

William Ross (born1948) is an American composer, orchestrator, arranger, conductor, and an Emmy Award-winning music director. He was the orchestrator for Dennis McCarthy on Star Trek Generations. He previously worked with McCarthy on the hit television series MacGyver.

Ross won a Primetime Emmy Award in for directing and conducting the music for the 79th Annual Academy Awards in 2007. He also won a Daytime Emmy Award for his composition work on an episode of the animated series Tiny Toon Adventures.

Ross has written music scores for several films, including One Good Cop (featuring Tony Plana), Look Who's Talking Now (starring Kirstie Alley), The Little Rascals (featuring Whoopi Goldberg), Black Sheep (starring Bruce McGill), and Tin Cup (featuring Richard Lineback). Ross was also the orchestrator on most of these films; he won BMI Film Music Awards for his work on Little Rascals and Ladder 49. In addition, Ross composed three hit films from director Jay Russell: My Dog Skip (featuring Clint Howard), Tuck Everlasting, and Ladder 49. Ross was also conductor and orchestrator on My Dog Skip. More recent film score credits include The Game of Their Lives (starring John Rhys-Davies, Bill Smitrovich, and Patrick Stewart) and September Dawn.

Besides Generations, Ross' many film orchestration credits include Lethal Weapon, Die Hard 2, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Father of the Bride, Grumpy Old Men, Forrest Gump, Eraser, Contact, Stuart Little, The Mummy Returns, Lilo & Stitch, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Polar Express. As a conductor, his film work includes Catwoman, Poseidon, and TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) – the latter featuring the voice of Patrick Stewart. In addition, Ross conducted and orchestrated the score for the popular 1995 film Waiting to Exhale. He also conducted and adapted John Williams' music for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.